1940 in literature
The year 1940 in literature involved some significant events and new books. Events *Aldous Huxley is a screenwriter for the movie adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. *Jean-Paul Sartre is taken prisoner by the Germans. *Robertson Davies joins the Old Vic repertory company. New book *Giorgio Basssani - Una città di pianura *Henry Bellamann - ''King's Row *Adolfo Bioy Casares - The Invention of Morel *Karin Boye - Kallocain *Edgar Rice Burroughs - Synthetic Men of Mars *Dino Buzzati - The Tartar Steppe (Il deserto dei Tartari) *Erskine Caldwell - Trouble in July *Taylor Caldwell - The Earth is the Lord's *John Dickson Carr **''The Department of Queer Complaints **''The Man Who Could Not Shudder'' **''And So To Murder'' (as by Carter Dickson) **''Murder in the Submarine Zone'' (as by Carter Dickson) *Willa Cather - Sapphira And The Slave *Raymond Chandler - Farewell, My Lovely *Agatha Christie **''Sad Cypress'' **''One, Two, Buckle My Shoe'' *Walter Clark - The Ox-bow Incident *James Daugherty - Daniel Boone *Georges Duhamel - Les Maîtres *Graham Greene - The Power and the Glory *Ernest Hemingway - For Whom the Bell Tolls *Georgette Heyer - The Corinthian *Arthur Koestler - Darkness at Noon *Dorothy Kunhardt- Pat the Bunny *John M. Lee - Counter-Clockwise *Carson McCullers - The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter *John O'Hara - Pal Joey *Raymond Postgate - Verdict of Twelve *Arthur Ransome - The Big Six *Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings - When the Whippoorwill *Clayton Rawson -- The Headless Lady *Mikhail Sholokov - The Don Flows Home to the Sea *Dr. Seuss - Horton Hatches the Egg *C.P. Snow - George Passant (first of the Strangers and Brothers series) *Christina Stead - The Man Who Loved Children *Rex Stout **''Over My Dead Body'' **''Where There's a Will'' *Phoebe Atwood Taylor **''The Criminal C.O.D.'' **''The Deadly Sunshade'' **''The Left Leg'' (as by Alice Tilton) *Richard Wright -''Native Son'' New drama *Agatha Christie - Peril at End House *Jean Cocteau - Le Bel Indifférent *Lawrence Riley - Return Engagement *George Shiels - The Rugged Path Poetry * T.S. Eliot, "East Coker" (second of the Four Quartets) in New English Weekly (Easter). Non-fiction *"Cato" (Michael Foot and others) - Guilty Men *G.H. Hardy - A Mathematician's Apology *C.S. Lewis - The Problem of Pain *Arthur Marder - The Anatomy of British Sea Power: a history of British naval policy in the pre-Dreadnought era, 1880-1905 *A.A. Milne - War with Honour *Edmund Wilson - To the Finland Station Births * January 14 - Sir Trevor Nunn, theatre director * February 4 - George A. Romero, horror film writer, producer, director * March 16 - Bernardo Bertolucci, Italian writer and film director * March 28 - Russell Banks, novelist * April 15 - Jeffrey Archer, novelist * May 7 - Angela Carter, English magical realist author (d. 1992) * May 8 - Peter Benchley, novelist (d. 2006) * May 13 - Bruce Chatwin, novelist and travel writer (d. 1989) * May 24 - Joseph Brodsky, poet (d. 1996) * May 28 - Maeve Binchy, novelist * July 17 - Tim Brooke-Taylor, comedy writer and actor * October 20 - Robert Pinsky, poet * December 5 - Peter Pohl, novelist Deaths * January 5 - Humbert Wolfe, poet and epigrammist * January 27 - Isaac Babel, journalist and dramatist * February 11 - John Buchan, Scottish author * February 29 - E. F. Benson, novelist * March 7 - Edwin Markham, poet * March 10 - Mikhaïl Boulgakov, Russian writer (b. 1891) * March 16 **Selma Lagerlöf, writer **Thomas Heath, historian and translator * June 10 - Marcus Garvey, journalist and publisher * June 20 - Charley Chase, screenwriter * September - W. H. Davies, poet and Supertramp * December 21 - F Scott Fitzgerald (b. 1896) * December 22 - Nathanael West (b. 1903) * date unknown - T. O'Conor Sloane, editor of Amazing Stories Awards * Carnegie Medal for children's literature: Kitty Barne, Visitors from London * James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction: Charles Morgan, The Voyage * James Tait Black Memorial Prize for biography: Hilda F. M. Prescott, Spanish Tudor: Mary I of England * Newbery Medal for children's literature: James Daugherty, Daniel Boone * Nobel Prize for literature: not awarded * Pulitzer Prize for Drama: William Saroyan, The Time of Your Life * Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Mark Van Doren: Collected Poems * Pulitzer Prize for the Novel: John Steinbeck - The Grapes of Wrath * King's Gold Medal for Poetry: Michael Thwaites External links * Category:Years in literature Category:History of literature Category:Literature by year